Milwaukee Tightens Security When Occupy Coalition Visits

A group of 50 activists from the Occupy Coalition gathered in downtown Milwaukee recently to hold a protest of unequal distribution of city funds and a conversation with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. They were met with an enhanced police presence but did not get to meet the Mayor

The Occupy Coalition includes Occupy the Hood, Occupy Milwaukee, Occupy Riverwest and Decolonize the Barrio.

On Monday, February 6, the group met at the intersection of Wells and Wisconsin downtown Milwaukee and marched to the Milwaukee city hall.

The group of activists was met by an enhanced police presence that required participants to have their bags searched upon entering the building.

About 15 police officers were in and around city hall for the demonstration, a presence that is very unusual.

Michael Horne has been a correspondent at Milwaukee Magazine for over two decades. Horne said he commonly goes to city hall to gather information for stories and has never been searched upon entering the public building and was surprised at the police presence for the demonstration. “I have never seen the police arrayed outside of the Milwaukee City Hall in all of my years, by which I mean they have the west entrance blocked off and each of the other two entrances. The police were lined abreast inside the lobby and were similarly arrayed at the elevators and stairs. City Hall is usually a step right up place.”

Once inside, activists with the occupy coalition made speeches about the unjust conditions that are occurring in Milwaukee. Activists then demanded to meet with Milwaukee Mayor, Tom Barrett to discuss these issues, such as the distribution of funds in a community block grant program within the city and an audit of where city money is being spent.

Police did not allow anyone to go to the Mayor’s office on the second floor. Mayor Barrett’s refusal to meet with the group of activists, or at least a couple of activists representing the whole group, is indicative of whom has more access to the upper levels of power in Milwaukee. Within the past couple of weeks Mayor Barrett was in attendance of several different events attended by his constituents, including a fundraiser for Tammy Baldwin, a Valerie Jarrett (senior adviser and assistant to the president for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Obama administration) event, a Milwaukee Press club event, a Milwaukee County Democrats meeting, a fundraiser for Emmanuel Mamalakis, a county supervisor running for city comptroller.

The group was able to come into contact with a couple of city alderman including Willie C. Wade, district 7, and Ashanti Hamilton, district 1. Alderman Wade was resistant to speak with the group, who eventually started yelling “sell out.” Alderman Hamilton was much more cooperative and spent at least 10 minutes speaking with the group, promising to fulfill their request of an outside audit done of city finances.

The Occupy coalition plans to continue to hold demonstrations and conversations with residents and elected officials of Milwaukee regarding various aspects of the economic crisis in the 4th poorest city in the United States.

Above: Khalil Coleman discusses the demands and goals of Occupy the Hood, Milwaukee.

Above: Danielle Meyer and Daniel Ginsberg discuss the Take Back the City Hall event and the next steps of action of the Occupy Coalition in Milwaukee

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Tracey Pollock, a native of River Falls, Wis., studied journalism at UW-River Falls and finished her education at UW-Milwaukee with a focus in sociology. She is interested in covering social justice issues and shedding light on issues in a way that corporate media will not undertake. Pollock lives in Milwaukee, where generations of her family have resided. She enjoys the local music scene, bicycling and camping.

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